Sunday, 23 October 2016

Ever since I joined
the Greater Manchester Skeptics Society (GMSS) they’ve been talking about
something called QED. A conference? For £99? I’ve been to conferences before.
They’re often dull, tedious affairs where you get stuck talking to people. Not
anything to get excited about.

As the event drew
nearer, I saw the list guest speakers: Prof Richard Wiseman, Prof Caroline Watt,
Dr Sue Blackmore. Psychologists I have referenced in my dissertation! This looks
interesting. As I got to know my fellow skeptics and they became friends, more
and more were going. Some were even volunteering.

“There’s a free day
you say? Called Skepticamp?” The Friday before the two day event is day where activists
can share their experiences and passions in a series of talks. Following the success
of my EVP talk at the GMSS Soapbox event I volunteered to discuss my research.
So I was going to one of the days at least…

Then I was extremely
fortunate to receive a free ticket for the full conference (Sat and Sun). I am
so glad I did as I would have missed a wonderful, enlightening experience. I heard
some amazing talks and met so many interesting like-minded people. I have many
highlights but here are just some:

The skeptical
movement has a lot to offer. It has crossover with many disciplines and
unlimited scope. As with any collection people motivated by a unifying force,
it can fall into the trap of being closed to the very groups it is trying to
engage. This point was made at the conference and there were some great
examples of ‘reaching out’ to the wider community, such as The Paranormal
Challenge and Glasgow Skeptics.

My thoughts on the debate between skeptics and believers
is documented on this blog You’ll never change
minds if you only talk to those who agree with you!

I would like to
thank the organisers, speakers and volunteers at QED for a wonderful experience.
I now have post-QED blues and like many others will be counting down the months
until the next one.

Sunday, 2 October 2016

I went to my 20 year high school
reunion this weekend. I'd originally discounted the idea but braved it as I
didn't want to regret not going. Needless to say I was nervous. Once I was on
my way my 'extrovert' cover kicked in and I was ready... I'm pleased to say it
was a good night and I'm glad I went.

This post isn't to detail the evening but to discuss what was a real-life
demonstration of the way our brains process names and faces. Many people will
say: "I'm not good at remembering names but I never forget a face!".
This is true for most of us. Our facial recognition system is excellent.

As
social animals we are predisposed to detect, store and recognise faces. The
more we see a face to stronger the memories become so we can recognise that
person in different settings. This also includes other relevant semantic
information (occupation, family members, voice etc). Names are not as important
for survival so are processed differently.

Whilst we might retrieve semantic
information about that person without recalling their name we don’t recall
their name without also retrieving the semantic information. Perceptual classification,
i.e. judging whether a face is familiar, occurs before semantic classification.
A person’s name is accessed last (Bruce and Young, 1986). I must be slightly
odd as I encountered an extra scenario (3):

1. I recognised the face and remembered the name
2. I recognised the face but couldn't remember the name
3. I recognised the name but couldn't remember the associated image from school

There are also other peculiarities regarding
how we process faces. For example, we find it harder to recognise faces from
different ethnic groups. This has obvious implications for eye witness
testimony. We are unable to note distortions in faces if the image is presented
upside down (Thatcher Effect). We easily see faces in inanimate objects, such
as clouds, tree bark (pareidolia).

There are conditions where the process
does not work as above. Prosopagnosia (face blindness) is a deficit in face
perception whilst other functions remain intact. A more extreme version is
Capgras syndrome where the person recognises the face but does not have the
associated emotions so believes that person is an 'imposter'. Worst still, Cotard
delusion is where you fail to have emotions regarding your own face so believe
you are dead!

So next time you forget a name just blame
it on your brain! It’s perfectly normal. My recommendation for 25 year school
reunion? Name badges!

About Me

Hi, I’m Claire and I kind of look like a witch. Imagine the lovechild of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully – a sceptic who wants to believe.
My fascination with the paranormal started young, listening to my Mother’s ghost stories. I spent most of my childhood desperately wanting to see a ghost. I didn’t.
Studying psychology has made me a sceptic but I still go ghost hunting. I’m now researching paranormal belief and Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) for my MSc at Manchester Metropolitan University. I am a member of the British Psychological Society, Society of Psychical Research and founding member of the MMU Parapsychology Society.
Join me on this blog for a variety of supernatural treats – ghost hunting experiences, spooky locations, (para)psychology and everything in between...
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